


You Give Me Fever

by LiveLoveLikeMe



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Caretaking, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 17:40:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3419705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLoveLikeMe/pseuds/LiveLoveLikeMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina has a fever dream of days long ago.  There are two sets of arms that beckon to her in the midst of her muddled state, and Regina's never been very good at choosing between what she wants and what she needs.  She's ill, and sometimes there's nothing wrong with wanting to be in the arms of her lover and her mother.  INCEST WARNING.  Swan Queen & Black Queen. A gift for porchswing in the ff exchange.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Give Me Fever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [porchswing (itsfemslash)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsfemslash/gifts).



> Dear Porchswing, I hope you enjoy this story. I tried to include as much of your requests in it as possible. I very much enjoyed creating this story for you, and only wish I could have had the time to make it longer. I didn't want to end it, so who knows. Maybe some day you'll persuade me to write a second part. It was truly an honor to get to write this for you. 
> 
> For everyone else, some necessary information that I have found is pertinent in the past: THERE IS INCEST IN THIS STORY. THERE IS FUCKING DESCRIBED WITH INCESTINESS ALL OVER IT. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A WARNING THAT YOU MAY NOT ENJOY THIS, THIS IS IT. Also, assume Regina is always above the age of consent, as I didn't really get into that. 
> 
> Other than that, read on happy shippers!

Regina Mills whimpered.

She knew, as soon as she emitted the sound, that it would draw the attention of her wife.  With barely a moment of hesitation, Emma groaned from behind her on the bed and began to rustle the covers.  “Babe?” she asked, clearly only half awake.

Regina considered pretending to remain asleep in the hopes that Emma wasn’t awake enough yet to realize she had truly whimpered at all, but her lungs twinged in pain with the need to cough.  Try as she might, she could not contain it, and she jerked forward away from her wife as the coughing overtook her.

Regina Mills whimpered again.

A hand on her shoulder told Regina that Emma was now fully aware and awake, much to her dismay.  She had hoped to be able to pull herself together and leave for work before Emma caught on to her current predicament, but no such luck seemed to be in her cards today.

“How do you feel?” Emma asked stubbornly from behind her.

“Fide,” Regina tried, annoyed at how congested her words sounded. 

“You’re sick,” Emma pointed out.

Regina rolled her eyes, but the motion brought her attention to yet another apparent symptom—her head was killing her.

“It’s nothing.  Go back to sleep, I have an early meeting.”

Instead of listening, Emma took away Regina’s last shred of hope for an easy escape and tugged at her shoulder.  Feeling too weak to truly resist the pull, Regina gave in and turned to face her wife, sniffling despite herself.

“You were sneezing all day yesterday.  I told you, those were cold sneezes, babe.  Mysterious new allergy my ass.”

Seemingly satisfied with herself, Emma smirked and removed her hand from Regina’s shoulder, replacing it on her forehead. 

“You feel warm.”  The blonde bit her lip in thought.

“So what?  It’s not a fever,” Regina argued.

Emma looked at her contemplatively, and she knew the blonde could tell she was right.  So what if she was _a little_ under the weather? 

“Not yet,” Emma agreed.  “But you’re definitely sick.  No offense, but you look like you’ve been hit by a truck.”

Regina only flinched a little when she rolled her eyes this time.

“Thank you.  I’m so glad to know how wonderful I’m going to look before city council this morning,” Regina retorted, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem since you’re going to reschedule it.”

It infuriated her a bit when her wife did things like that.  She was just so damn _sure_ of herself, like there was no possible way Regina would be going to work, and there was no possible way Regina could decide for herself if she was well enough to attend her meeting.  She was as stubborn as her mother, if not more, and it tugged at her patience a bit harder each and every time.

Regina didn’t complain, though, because as infuriating as it was, she also secretly loved it.  She loved how protective Emma was of her, how hard she tried to make sure Regina was well taken care of when she knew that had never been the reality for her in the past.  Annoying it could definitely be, but it was also endearing in that way that was so entirely Emma.

And besides, she knew when the situation was reversed, she was probably ten times worse.

“What makes you think the council is going to be so willing?  You know they’re already looking for any excuse to put my head on a platter,” Regina tried.  She wanted to ignore just how true her words were.

“Threaten to sneeze on them,” Emma said with a shrug.

“Yes, dear, I’m sure that will be effective.”

“Well, why not?”

As if to demonstrate, Regina felt an itch rise quickly in her nasal cavities.  She bent toward Emma with the violent force of a sneeze caught behind her cupped palms.

“Bless you.”

“Emma…”

“Fine!”  The blonde sighed in exasperation.  “What if I go?”

Carefully, Regina lowered her hands, weary of another surprise attack from her nose.  She blinked, trying to comprehend what she was certain she had misheard.

“You want to go to the meeting with city council?” Regina asked slowly, punctuating her question with a wet sniff.  She held in another whimper as she scrubbed at her itchy nose with a hooked knuckle.

Wordlessly, Emma got up from the bed and walked over to the tissue box on the dresser.  She paused with her hand outstretched over it for a moment before opting to grab the entire box and make her way back to the bed.  Regina flinched as the box gracelessly landed against her arm when Emma tossed it.

“I don’t see why not,” Emma finally said, shrugging.  “Knowing you, there’s probably an entire presentation already planned out in a folder somewhere.  I think I can handle that.”

Regina eagerly snatched two tissues from the box and layered them against her nose, giving a wet gurgly blow to try and lessen the pressure on her sinuses.  She met no such luck, however, as the congestion remained just as present despite the ruined tissues now all but falling apart in her hands.  She bunched them up and sighed heavily through her mouth.

“Who would do your job?” 

She had to admit, the idea of staying home in bed for the day sounded kind of amazing.  Well, at least less miserable, as she didn’t think it could be considered amazing when she felt like every part of her upper body was going to explode.

“My Dad is coming in today.  I’ll just stay on call and it should be fine.  Now, please, let me do this?” Emma begged.

Regina chuckled, which broke into more of a cough, much to her frustration. 

“Please do try your hardest not to screw it up.  There are some very important proposals on the table this month that I’ve put a lot of work into,” Regina said, finally giving in.

That, alone, should have been enough to tell her that she was sick beyond a doubt, as Regina was not one to give in to her wife so easily.  As if to further her defeat, Regina sneezed twice more, just as harshly as before.

“Bless,” Emma murmured.  The blonde smiled softly and placed a quick kiss on her lips, though Regina ripped herself away before she could attempt to take it any further.

“Emma!  Don’t, I’ll get you sick.”  She swatted playfully at Emma’s arm and scoffed.

“So what?  You’re my wife, I’m pretty sure I’ve already been exposed.  At least my inevitable demise can be a little more enjoyable.”

“If you say so.”  Regina yawned, exhaustion in her muscles making everything droop like weighted with lead.  She again felt grateful for the fact that she would be staying home.

Emma kissed her again, though this time on the forehead.  She leaned into the contact ever so slightly, enjoying the way it soothed her.

“Do you need anything?”

“No,” Regina murmured.  She wasn’t sure she could stay awake much longer; her eyes felt heavy.

“Medicine?  What are your symptoms?”

“Head mostly.  I have a headache, I keep sneezing, and I’m all congested.”  Regina sniffled.

“What about your cough?”

“It’s not bad.  I think my throat’s just dry.”

Emma smiled, looking a bit relieved.  “All right, then something for your head and a glass of water, coming right up.”

“Make it tea?” Regina asked, barely above a whisper, like her voice was falling asleep as much as the rest of her.  “With honey.”

Emma chuckled and kissed her again.

“Of course.  Tea with honey for the Queen.  Go back to sleep.  I’m going to go get ready for the day, and I’ll wake you before I leave.  Sound good?”

Regina nodded.  She closed her eyes the rest of the way and soon felt the bed shift.

“Emma?” she mumbled.

“Hmm?” the blonde asked.  She didn’t open her eyes, but from the sound of it, Emma was still fairly close to her side.

“The presentation is in the brief case on my desk.”

 

 

Regina vaguely recalled Emma waking her up to take some medicine before leaving.  The tea remained untouched— _or had she woken up to drink it?  She couldn’t remember—_ on the nightstand beside the bed.  Her head was throbbing and a shiver ran down her spine, a sure sign that she was getting closer to a full-on fever.  She tossed beneath the covers, only settling down when Emma’s pillow was secured between her arms.

Sleep came to her fitfully.

 

* * *

 

 

Regina coughed into her palm and looked longingly up at her mother.  She was furious that her daughter had gotten ill, and Regina was about to pay for the trouble she caused with it. 

It was her own fault, or so Mother kept reminding her.  She hadn’t needed to go to her riding lesson when it was so cold and she was already feeling a bit off.  And now, because of her selfish actions, Mother had to spend the day tending to her.

“I wouldn’t have to put myself through this if you hadn’t been so selfish, Regina.” 

There was something nearly condescending and threatening about the way mother spoke so spitefully while simultaneously running a soothing cool cloth across her forehead, but she could not imagine her mother to be any other way.

“I’m sorry, Mother,” she managed to say before turning away and sneezing sharply into a clenched fist.

“Such an inconvenience,” she admonished.  “And of course, I can’t very well ask anyone else to tend to you.  What kind of mother would I look like then?  Those gossiping fools would never comprehend how you caused this in the first place.”

Regina was only half listening, fever raging in all her senses, engulfing every word halfway through the moment they escaped her mother’s lips.  She wished nothing more than to sleep, but Mother was still sitting at her bedside, and she feared missing a moment of the time spent with her so near.

Regina was used to fighting for any semblance of attention from the older woman.  It typically only came when she was being punished, or rarely to reward good behavior, but at times it felt like Regina would do anything to get one extra touch.

Now was no exception.

“Am I going to be punished?” Regina asked, voice thick with congestion, much to her own dismay. 

Mother cringed but ran her hand down Regina’s cheek, leaving a feather light trail of that much sought-after contact. 

“Only a little, darling.  This may be your doing, but you’re still ill.  What fun can I have with you when you’re like this?”

Warm air ghosted her cheek before being replaced by supple lips pressing against her flushed skin.  Regina sucked in a sharp breath in response, only realizing too late that it would make her lungs contract with a cough.

Cora tsked but moved her lips closer to Regina’s mouth, placing another gentle kiss to her cheek.

“It looks like I’ll just have to do something to speed along your recovery, my love,” Cora spoke, barely above a whisper.

“How?”

She chuckled throatily and forced Regina to meet her eyes dead on.  “I’m going to fuck you.”

“Mother?” she asked, confused and wondering if perhaps the fever was stronger on her mind than she’d realized.

“I heard tell in the town that if I make you cum, you’ll recover more quickly.  Obey what I tell you, Regina—and I do mean every step—and you should begin to improve.”

“And you believed them?” Regina asked, amused.

Cora raised an eyebrow.  “Well, I certainly felt it would be worth a try.  However, if you don’t wish to find out-“

“No!  I mean, yes,” Regina stumbled over her words.  “I wish to be better, Mother.  Please make me better.”

The words were barely past her lips before Cora was claiming them with her own, swallowing the final letters in her kiss. 

 

_The edges of her vision began to crackle with specks of black, and those specks grew and multiplied enormously until they served no other purpose than to consume, and soon Regina couldn’t tell where the blackness in her mind ended and where the blackness of her mother’s eyes began._

Bursts of color blended back, leaving Regina in a sweaty reality, skin exposed to the air yet warm with kisses.  She sniffled, the cold in her nose craving a release, tickling her nasal cavities incessantly.  She tried to cover the weakness she was feeling, but those dark eyes above her darted quickly and offendingly at the slightest sign of a twitch.

“No, Regina.  You know what your punishment is,” Cora husked through swollen lips.

She sniffed again, hoping the tickle would disappear, but it only increased threefold and left her with the sensation of a smoldering fire in her nose. 

“Mother, please,” Regina begged.  “I need to…”

“You need to contain yourself.”

“But-”

“But nothing.”  Cora growled and met her eyes head on.  “If you sneeze, Regina, I will stop what I’m doing.  You don’t want that, do you?”

As if to further her point, Cora took a finger—fully saturated in Regina’s juices after long minutes spent teasing her cunt—and she pushed the tip just far enough inside her to elicit a yelp and make her crave more.  Regina’s hips hitched, desperate for more, but the weight of Cora’s own hips pressed them back down with determination.

She wanted more.

She also wanted that feeling of a feather swirling around the sensitive membranes of her nose to cease.

Mother’s kisses along her neck were not making the choice any easier.

She wanted to cum with those lips on her own and those slightly crooked-with-age-and-experience fingers pressing that faintly raised and erroneous zone just inside her.

If she could just rub her nose, Regina knew she could convince the tickle to abide by her desires and wait its turn.  She tugged at her arm, confused and curious as to why it wasn’t by her side, only to discover both were tied to the bed posts above her head. 

“I neh… need my huh.. hand,” she managed to say, no semblance of elegance surviving her hitching breath.

“They’ll get in the way.”

Soft lips touched her skin again, this time finding new ground on the bridge of her nose, teasing to the point of torment. 

Regina wanted to scream, but she didn’t. 

She contained it, like maybe if she could contain one bodily act, another could be just as easily done.

It wasn’t.

“Please,” Regina begged.  She panted heavily, the sensation of Cora’s finger pushing into her further and her thumb brushing atop her clit sending spots into her vision.  Her fingers clawed at the air for purchase and found none.

Cora pursed her lips, face still within a breath of Regina’s and showing no signs of any intention to move away.  Regina found it to be an especially dangerous location, given her current predicament, and that made her cunt swell with desire.  Mother barely flinched as she continued to sniffle and twitch her nose, because Mother _knew_ the control she exerted over Regina would be enough to keep her from daring to let the impending sneeze escape.  She didn’t fear it; she expected that Regina was smart enough to fear her.

“Do you want Mother to help you, Regina?”

She nodded, just barely due to their proximity, and Regina could practically feel Cora’s smirk across her fucking lips.

“Will you be a good girl and listen to Mother next time?”  Her voice was calm and level as she spoke.  Regina felt like her mind was ready to burst open with frustration in a complete offset of the other woman’s demeanor.

She was building in two places, growing closer and steadily striving to reach her breaking points—both desired, yet only one permissible. 

“Yes, Mother.  I’ll do anything. I’ll be good,” she cried. 

She tried to bite her lip, but the hitching of her breath thwarted her efforts.  Pleased, Cora graced her with an open-mouthed kiss.

A finger was forcefully shoved up against the bottom of Regina’s nose, making her gasp in surprise into Cora’s mouth, stealing her breath.  The itch remained, but the ticking down of moments until eruption was put on stasis. 

Regina was simultaneously swimming in misery and pleasure, wanting nothing more than for Mother to let her release.

Cora smirked.  Their lips met again, teasing and glistening wet.

Cora continued to fuck her with her free hand, and Regina forgot she had ever needed to sneeze until it was too late, and she came while her nose simultaneously reached an orgasm of its own release against Mother’s pressing finger.

The blackness returned, full throttle and mixed with a dizzying heat.

 

* * *

 

Regina.

_Regina._

“Regina!”

She blinked her eyes open, confused for a moment.  Mother was still above her, but years had aged her skin, and softness had crept into her eyes to replace the blackness that once was so familiar and oddly comforting.

The same crooked fingers moved to her face, and Regina half expected to be struck.  Instead, they rested against her forehead, and Mother frowned in disappointment.

“Emma was right, you definitely have a fever.  Why didn’t you call me?”

Regina blinked again.

It occurred to her that she had been dreaming before, perhaps more remembering than dreaming really, and that Mother was now here above her because she was ill and in bed.

Cora continued on, oblivious to Regina’s internal struggle for comprehension.

“Of course, why should you call me?  I suppose it’s natural that you wouldn’t want me near you now.  I’m not used to feeling so desperate to take care of you like this, you know, but that’s really no excuse…”

“It’s fine,” Regina cut in before her mother could go off on another tangent about her missed childhood.

Mother liked to apologize quite a bit, and she truly had been making an effort ever since gaining her heart back to actually do some good in Regina’s life.  It was moments like now, when she so clearly remembered exactly what had occurred between them yet neglected to mention it, that Regina felt the bits of anger and resentment break through toward the older woman.

It was as if Cora thought of her as something _wrong,_ thought of the things they did with one another as _dirty,_ so she never brought it up and played pretend as though those things had never even happened, like they had never touched one another or spent nights wrapped in sweat and spent sheets, entangled.

Sometimes Regina played along; it made her feel like maybe she was a little less fucked up than she was in reality, and she could feel normal in her life with her son and her wife, and a mother who constantly shied away from any physical contact.  Other times, she felt pieces of herself crack inside.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Regina whispered, only half believing the words herself.

When was Emma scheduled to return home?

“I woke you because you’re due for more medicine, darling.  Emma said I should let you sleep, but you seemed so warm and fussy in your sleep, I thought you might need it.”

She nodded and cringed, only partly because of her dislike of Cora suddenly caring. 

She helped Regina into a sitting position and presented her with two pills and a glass of water, which she took silently and dutifully. 

“How are you feeling?  Hopefully those strange pills help you.  Emma seemed to think they would,” Cora said thoughtfully, looking only a bit confused by the medicines of this world still.

“You always used to know better ways to make me feel better,” Regna blurted out. 

Maybe the fever was making her filter disappear.

“Regina…”

“Stop acting like it never happened!” she yelled in frustration.

Silence followed, both feeling thoroughly shamed by the outburst of the moment.  The dream was admittedly fresh on her mind, though she realized the same couldn’t be said for the older woman, who seemed taken aback by the topic of conversation.

“You want me to apologize?”

“What?” Regina asked.  The shock of the question made her lungs shake and heave with another series of coughs.

“I suppose I should have known you would, I just wasn’t sure of the best way to broach the subject.  Sometimes I think it’s better things remain unsaid.  After all, how could an apology ever make up for what I did to you, Regina?  I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Don’t you dare apologize, like something was wrong,” Regina spat out.

This time, it was Cora who appeared affronted and confused.

“Maybe I meant nothing more to you than an easy fuck, and now maybe you’re ashamed you ever touched me, but that’s not what it was for me.  I wanted you to touch me,” she confessed.

“I didn’t…”

“Please,” she begged.  Then she broke with a sob and pulled her mother closer.  She crashed their lips together, messily and carelessly, craving the touch she had been denied for so long.  A moment later, Cora kissed back, and Regina could have sobbed for entirely joyful reasons this time. 

She didn’t have to say anything to make it clear, through the hunger in her touch, that she had wanted Regina each and every time just as deeply.

“We shouldn’t.”  Cora broke away from the kiss, though her lips stayed close and Regina captured them again to silence the negative suggestion that she didn’t wish to hear.

“It’s not wrong,” Regina husked, tired of the same fight she had so clearly won.

“No, it’s not,” Cora admitted, almost solemnly, before adding, “but you have Emma.”

“I have Emma.”

Regina blinked, sighed, and pulled a few inches further away to her pillow.

“And you love her very much.”

“I do,” Regina replied tearfully, the weight of the words pinning down her heart with truth.  She could never do this to her wife, her true love.  It physically pained her to deny the pleasure she wanted from the older woman, but her heart could never belong to another in such a way that it was entirely Emma’s.

She pressed her mother’s cool forehead to her own feverish brow and sighed. 

“Will you hold me?” she asked, voice cracking with emotion.

Cora pulled away and nodded.  “Let me just get something for you first.”

Regina watched, curious, as Cora walked across the room and began to root around inside her oversized purse.  She returned with a folded white cloth in her hand and proceeded to bring it up to Regina’s cheeks to wipe away her drying tears.

“Those worthless tissues you’ve been using have left your nose all red and chaffed, my darling.  You should use this.”

“Are you certain?” Regina asked, weary to soil the exquisite material.

“Of course, my love.”

“Will you hold me?” Regina asked for the second time.

“I’d rather do nothing else.”

Cora slid into bed beside her, making Regina scoot closer to the middle to make room, but she quickly settled into the offered embrace.

She felt comfortable and warm as Mother wrapped her in her arms, kissed her brow, and took a deep breath.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey, guys,” Emma greeted.  Her eyebrows rose closer to her hairline, probably out of surprise at seeing mother and daughter cuddling in the bed.  She had a bowl of something steaming in her hands and took careful steps toward the bed with it.

“Emma Swan-Mills, that better not be food in our bedroom,” Regina ordered.  The ferocity was lost behind her stuffy nose, making her bite more akin to a kitten’s, though Emma still managed to look sheepish as she winced and pouted.

“But it’s soup for you.  You’re sick and I wanted you to have soup in bed,” Emma explained, that same damn pout still in place.

Regina rolled her eyes, pleased to note it was a little less painful since that second dose of medicine had been given time to sink in.  Perhaps it was her renewed sense of belonging she felt to her wife after the day’s events, or maybe just the fact that she was feeling a little better, but Regina found herself giving in.

“Fine, but you better not spill it,” she warned.

“I’ll be careful, I promise!” 

Regina pretended not to notice as a few drops sloshed over the edge of the bowl during Emma’s bound for the other side of the bed.  Her wife slid under the covers, pulling up to her other side so that Regina was effectively snuggled between both women.  She was certain Emma was thankful that she acted as a buffer, for she still sometimes seemed a bit uneasy around her mother. 

It occurred to her that her wife must have been fairly concerned about her if she had decided to call Cora to come look after her.  Silently warmed by the gesture, Regina gave her wife a kiss on the cheek in greeting.  Emma tried to follow it with a kiss to her lips but Regina jerked away.

As usual, Emma pouted, and it was utterly adorable.

“No kissing me on the lips, I don’t want to get you sick.”

“Haven’t we already been over this?” Emma huffed.

“We have, but that does not change the fact that you’re incredibly whiney when you’re ill, dear.  I’m simply trying to protect myself here.”

Emma scoffed in mock offense, and Cora chucked from beside her.

“My daughter is right, Emma.  Don’t think I’m going to stay here and look after both of you at the same time.  She’s already trouble enough,” Cora added, amusement dripping from her tone.

“Mother!”

This time it was Emma’s turn to laugh. 

Her fever filled her with chills, but the room felt impossibly warm around her with both women mixing their laughter together.

“Is someone going to give me this soup, or are we going to just sit here all day while I wither away with my sickness and you two make fun of me for it?”

Emma snorted and Cora sighed. 

Regina felt like this very moment, and this very spot, was as close to home as she had ever felt before.

“You can’t feed yourself?” Emma asked, amused.

“Oh, of course not.  Regina is so very sick, she can’t even lift her arms.  That’s why she’s been so eager to expose us both to her germs,” Cora deadpanned.

Regina groaned.  “I’m starting to see why I rarely spend time alone with the two of you.”

She startled, however, when both women chose the exact same moment to kiss each opposing side of her brow.

“You know we’re just teasing.  We love taking care of you,” Emma said gently.  As if to prove her point, she spooned some of the chicken noodle soup onto the spoon and held it up to Regina’s lips.  The steam still streaming up from it in swirling tendrils gave her pause.

“It’s too hot, dear,” Cora jutted in.  Her mother leaned closer and blew on the hot liquid without waiting for permission.  Satisfied, Regina allowed her wife to spoon feed her the soup.  She hummed in appreciation.

“Do you like it?” Emma asked hopefully.

“Yes, Granny has outdone herself on this batch.”  She winked for added effect.

“Damn it, how do you _do_ that?  Aren’t sick people supposed to be unable to taste?” Emma asked.  “Why couldn’t I have made it for you?”

“Dear, I love you, but if I had thought for one moment you made this soup, I never would have let it within a foot of my mouth.”

Emma nodded.  “Yeah, I suppose I wouldn’t either.”

Regina grinned and sniffled.  The steam from the soup and the warmth it created caused her congestion to break and threaten to run.  She brought the handkerchief up to her nose to wipe it away, secretly pleased by the memory it would always serve to comfort her with.

“You’re still stuffed up, huh?  Maybe we should get you in a hot shower.  I bet the steam would feel good, and your fever seems to have gone down so it’s probably safe,” Emma suggested.

Regina smiled.  Emma was here for her, loving her, and ready to take perfect care of her.  It was all she could ever ask for and more.

“That sounds good,” she agreed.

“Then I suppose that’s my cue to take my leave,” Cora added, making motions to stand from the bed.

“You’re leaving?”  This time it was Regina’s turn to pout.

Cora looked to her and then to Emma, a knowing smile on her face.

“I think you’re well taken care of here, my love.”  She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the corner of Regina’s mouth, just a second or two longer than appropriate, but if Emma noticed she didn’t say anything.

Regina guessed Emma had noticed a great many things between them before, though she never showed any indication, and she was content with it staying that way for now.

“Indeed, I am,” Regina agreed.  She snuggled back into Emma’s hold, letting her wife provide her with all the care she would need.

Emma kissed her forehead and fed her another spoon of the soup while Regina watched her mother exit the bedroom door, the earlier moments of the day a thing to leave behind them.

She found that she missed the other presence, but with Emma, she was still content and felt at home in the space between her arms.

And that was right for Regina’s world.

 

 

 


End file.
